


META: Mirrors in Good Omens

by ileolai



Series: meta / analysis [1]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Character Analysis, Meta, Other, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 15:14:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19396780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ileolai/pseuds/ileolai
Summary: Cross-posted by request. This is a general sort of character analysis with some context for an Aziraphale-specific meta I might post later. Long, sketchy and fragmented, with lots of screencaps and some Jungian theory. Also, gay.





	META: Mirrors in Good Omens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elisi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisi/gifts).



## Character Parallels

The authorial purpose of these parallels is to give deeper insight into things the characters themselves can’t verbalize, or where dialoguing about their motivations would be clunky. I’m coming at this from a Jungian point of view -- so here’s a [brief overview ](http://journalpsyche.org/jungian-model-psyche/)which may offer some context on that.

As Douglas Mackinnon pointed out himself on Twitter--

So (cracks knuckles)

Let’s start with my precious booboo bastard lamb baby and the character everyone [understandably] dislikes. They’re the same person. No listen--

### Aziraphale / Shadwell

Ok, so. Aziraphale is deeply concerned about his image, and concealing what he actually is. The primary thing he is trying to conceal, aside from his relationship to Crowley, is that he is ‘’soft’’. He doesn’t want to be a soldier.

He still has to present the _appearance_ that he’s loyal to his station, though, as a Principality, so he outright lies to Heaven about losing his sword, about what he’s doing. To them he tries to present himself as being streetwise and competent, having his own network of agents and whatnot.

He’s actually kind of hopeless, and needs rescuing a lot, and he manipulates people into giving him favours, and from Heaven’s perspective -- if they knew what he was up to -- he’d be a criminal.

Shadwell is, essentially, the extreme logical endpoint of this. He styles himself as a soldier in an army he made up in his head, and he’s actually just a petty criminal who uses his fake army to manipulate favours out of Crowley and Newt.

One of my favourite scenes is where Azira calls Shadwell to cover his ass for lying to Heaven about having ''agents'', not realizing that Shadwell himself is lying about having an ''army'’-- it says a lot about the image they're frantically trying to present as well as how transparent they are in presenting it. Azira seems to be the only one naive enough to buy Shadwell’s bullshit.

And the framing makes it VERY OBVIOUS what we’re supposed to take from this scene.

Hmm!!!

Another thing they have in common is moral aggrandizement. Aziraphale rejects Crowley’s advances on the basis of moral superiority to demons -- as Shadwell does to Madame Tracy when he calls her a Jezebel and a whore.

This is all rather masculine-coded-- which is not to say Aziraphale himself is masculine-coded, but the _image_ he has to present to Heaven is.

In Jungian terms, Shadwell is his Persona, ‘’the “public relations” part of the ego’’, the mask.

Aside from being Azira’s Persona, these parallels are there to give some perspective on how Crowley _himself_ sees the worst of Aziraphale-- when he's acting grandiose, moralizing, justifying Heaven's bullshit. Shadwell’s madness is how Crowley sees the mask -- to him, Azira's moral stance is about as ridiculous as persecuting ''witches'' who ''have too many nipples'' and ''give their cats funny names''.

Essentially though, underneath all that Shadwell is just a lonely old man, as Aziraphale is, he just doesn't want people to find that out. They’re both terrified of vulnerability.

Despite all his faults, when it comes down to it, Shadwell won't hurt kids, and that’s important. Azira has justified some pretty terrible things, like the Flood, but ultimately he takes care of Adam.

So, let’s look at Crowley’s own Persona.

### Crowley / Madame Tracy

A Fallen angel / fallen woman, a temptress and sex worker respectively. They’re undesirable and outcast, dishonest and criminal, from society's perspective. However, they both refuse to internalize this moral condemnation, and Aziraphale / Shadwell’s denigration seemingly slides off them.

Both of them are, however, getting past it-- being an agent in the Apocalypse is a bit too much for Crowley, and Madame Tracy's ''knees aren't what they used to be''. Both ultimately ''retire'' in the end.

Crowley's other job is bringing souls to the Underworld, but he's not really into it, and goes out of his way to do it as indirectly as possible. Madame Tracy’s second job is a fake medium.

They’re both very fluid in how they present themselves-- Crowley is in disguise by default as a snake-person, and adapts easily to time periods and certain roles. Madame Tracy wears different costumes, different wigs, uses a fake voice on the phone.

It’s practically the same wig.

Crowley also loves Azira generously and unconditionally, saving him from his own stupid blunders despite Azira rejecting his advances, and insisting they're best friends and on their own side even if Azira doesn't buy it. Madame Tracy takes Shadwell's insults as compliments, seems to assume they're already married [''I’ll be getting us a nice bit of liver for Sunday''], leaves food outside his door, and offers him a place to stay when he needs it.

So Madame Tracy is Crowley’s own mask, that he needs to maintain his job in Hell. And he doesn’t necessarily want to be doing it, he’s getting over it, but he’s also not going to be condemned for it.

She is also how Aziraphale sees the ''worst'' of Crowley-- gaudy and ostentatious and seductive and shameless, clingy and insistent.

She also represents many things Azira tries to conceal in _himself_ , the things he has in common with Crowley-- to Azira, she is a Shadow, the parts of himself he doesn’t want to acknowledge. Which is why he needs her, specifically, to come to terms with himself, but that’s for the other meta.

When it comes down to it, both she and Shadwell refuse to hurt children, and that's the important bit-- what they respect in each other despite their apparent faults.

Moving on.

### Aziraphale / Anathema Device

These two are the most interesting to me.

In terms of personality, they’re both simultaneously pragmatic and intuitive -- although they struggle to accept the latter in themselves, as they are bound by obligation to the Book / the Plan and fulfilling their duty to it.

Anathema is a witch, and Crowley compares Aziraphale’s powers to magic. [In terms of witchy imagery, Crowley functions as a sort of Familiar -- he’s a magic snake that basically assigns himself to be Aziraphale’s helpful pet.]

Both are old-fashioned -- Anathema wears the same, thoroughly unmodern [tartan] dress throughout, rides a gearless bike [derailleurs were invented in the 1930s], being a witch in itself is unmodern. She gives the same sense of having walked out of 1800’s as Azira does.

Now there’s some colour symbolism going on here. Anathema’s tartan dress is blue-- and her bike is blue, the pen ink she uses to write notes is blue, her bed frame is blue, her apartment is painted blue, she has blue strings on her conspiracy wall. She’s sorrounded by blue.

Blue, as opposed to Heaven-mandated white, tends to show up on Azira when he's being ~naughty~ and doing something Heaven would object to. Lots of blue when the ''arrangement'' is still new, in the theater scene. Blue shirt, no coat when Crowley first loops him into opposing Amargeddon.

Blue scarf when they're raising Warlock, blue paintball stain when they're hanging out at the manor. He wears a white shirt when he's discorporated, but he's suddenly got a blue shirt on the airfield when he's opposing Heaven directly.

Blue shirt in the final scene when they're dining at the Ritz.

Blue is a colour symbolically associated with _wisdom and intuition_ , and that’s important.

Anathema can see auras and sense intangible things, because she's a witch-- Azira can sense the ''love'' hanging around a building. When rain _hasn't even been invented yet,_ he just knows he doesn't like the look of it, knows Adam and Eve are going to need something to keep them warm, and rejects his assigned station to help them.

The Book passes from Anathema to Azira, and he's the one to put the pieces together and figure out where the Antichrist is. He's also the one who receives the final prophecy when the fragment floats down on the airfield, and he -- intuitively -- guesses what it means, saving his and Crowley's lives.

Anathema is another component of Azira’s Shadow [it’s in the name itself-- anathema-- meaning shunned] the intuitions and self-directed wisdom he’s _not supposed to have_ as a Good Soldier. That’s what all the blue is meant to represent, that’s why he’s so anxious about the blue paintball splot spoiling his coat and ‘’knowing it’s there underneath’’. When we last see him in blue, it’s because he’s accepted himself and that part of him.

Anathema is the ''good side'' of Azira to Crowley, the counterpart of ''bad side'' Shadwell-- the side he clocked immediately in the Garden when Azira admits he gave his sword away and doesn't like the look of rain, when he's clever and prospicient even if he doesn't realize what makes him so because of Heaven's programming [''You’re so clever, how can you be so stupid?''], when he is kind.

And interestingly, the characters that represent things Azira rejects in himself and others -- intuition, shamelessness, hedonism etc -- are both female. In the end he's able to accept himself by occupying a female body. Again, a whole other meta.

  
As a side note, because it’s important to other things -- You can see Anathema's relationship to her mother is analogous to Azira's relationship to God; she's insistent that Anathema takes the breadknife [Azira gives away his sword, it comes back around] and she knows Anathema will succeed, encourages her to have faith in the Book, knowing she can never see her child again [Azira has to forsake Heaven to save Creation].

Mom=God comes up later with both Agnes and Newt.

### Newt Pulsifer / Crowley

So ‘’Newt’’ is an interesting name, because a newt is a lizard-like thing, and Crowley himself is a snake. The creatures we see on the demons are also generally things like reptiles and amphibians. Furthermore-- A pulsifer is a seed [pulse] storer, and Crowley is a compulsive gardener. Newt has a plant in his box when he gets fired from his job.

Both desperately want to be seen as cool, and both are actually neurotic geeks. Doctor Who necktie, space freak, respectively.

Newt doesn't trust the prophecy book, doubting Anathema's faith in it even when evidence proves her right, and he implores her to think for herself. As Crowley challenges Aziraphale.

When it becomes apparent the world is going to end, Newt suggests going for a walk. Crowley tries to run away from Armageddon [after his nihilism phase, more on this later].

Both drive an old, outdated car they adore beyond reason, destroy it, and insist it won't explode because ''it's a good car'' [Crowley's does explode].

Newt insists he's only a Witchfinder because it gets him out of the house-- Crowley doesn't really consider himself one of The Fallen, he just ''tripped'' really, it's not his fault.

Newt loves technology, he encourages Anathema to embrace it, but he’s an inherently terrible engineer himself. Crowley values Creation, was *assigned* to help build it, [broke a star](https://ileolai.tumblr.com/post/185783523104) [this is canon, I don't care] and his assigned job in Hell is breaking things.

Newt gets fired from his job before the ''team building exercise'' [aka Armageddon-- we’ll get to that], Crowley is both Fallen and refuses to participate in the War as a demon, insisting he and Azira are on their ''own side''.

Newt's mom [God] seems to accept him unconditionally and gently encourage him despite his hopelessness. I would argue that God does the same for Crowley. He is ultimately at the center of so many fundamental things-- the temptation of Adam / Eve, as well as Jesus, etc-- and She ultimately puts him in the position to prevent Armageddon.

But Crowley himself doesn't know that, doesn't see how important he is to the Plan because he is Fallen.

Another side point -- It was one of Newt's ancestors that incited the burning of [rebellion against] Agnes Nutter [God], Anathema is a descendent of Agnes -- the Pulsifers / Devices represent the ''families'' of Hell and Heaven respectively [''hereditary enemies'']

So Newt represents the Shadow side of Crowley, in counterpoint to the Persona he wants to present. He’s actually just a big, earnest, socially awkward _geek_ that likes whales and space and gardening. Being consigned to break things as a career feels like a curse. But he doesn’t want you to know any of that.

And to Aziraphale this is Crowley's ''good side''-- the dorky sincerity and genuine willingness to help, the gentle and disarming curiosity. He’s not really terrible, he’s just ‘’unlucky’’, he was an angel once himself, and he’s forgivable, etc.

\---

So there are dichotomies here which are really interesting. In Jungian terms, these would be the Anima and the Animus.

 **Aziraphale:** witchfinder / witch, authoritarian / servant

 **Crowley** : temptress / virgin, performer / shy nerd

Their associated qualities:

male / female

young / old

good / bad

\---

## Paintball = Armageddon

_'’Think of it as a microcosm of the Universe.''_ Crowley all but says what we're supposed to take from it.

Azira / Crowley's argument during the paintball match is an argument over their broader moral stances regarding Armageddon and what they need to reconcile before the airfield.

The teams represent Heaven and Hell, respectively-- specifics don't matter because they’re just different departments in the same corporation, basically, and they’re fighting because they’re told to.

The employees that are named are named because you’re supposed to pay attention to what they’re saying. The most fleshed-out one is Norman.

### Norman

_‘’I wanted to be a graphic designer!’’_

Now, Norman you can see as another parallel for Crowley alongside Newt, who is out of the picture because he’s been fired. They both troll their superiors, Norman is amused by Newt causing a power outage, they both get shot-but-not-really in the chest during the match, they both wear red [which is frequently contrast with the blue].

Norman speechifying at his team mates reflects Crowley's state of mind at that moment. It’s the verbalization of the nihilistic rage with which Crowley is swanning around kicking down doors and sneering at Aziraphale [we don't really see Crowley as aggressively Not Caring™ as this again].

Both Norman and Crowley resent the position they've been placed in, resent their shitty job, and resent their shitty coworkers for their arrogance and delusion [''These are people who talk about having a personal relationship with a _brand''_ is akin to Crowley's current ambivalence to God]. But if this is all going to happen, if they have no choice in how they define themselves, then they’re going to be as _insanely destructive as possible_ [remember, initially, ''Crowley was all in favour of Armageddon in general terms''].

Norman is there to tell us what Crowley _would have been_ in the war, essentially, without Aziraphale.

And there’s that whole gardening thing again.

That was just an interesting aside. Now jumping forward to how their relationships intersect.

### Relationship parallels

When Newt and Anathema meet, Newt is wounded from a car crash - as Crowley is personally wounded from his Fall - and Anathema takes care of him, as Azira sheltered Crowley from the rain.

They talk about being ‘’hereditary enemies’’ and the Prophecies. Anathema points out his ancestors were witch burners, claims she took his matches, and he's offended she would assume he would hurt anybody -- as Azira and Crowley argued over his demon-hood, and he eventually ''takes his matches'' [softens him].

Anathema / Newt have sex because it's prophesized in the book, Azira and Crowley occupy each other's bodies because the book tells them to [However, they also continue having an intimate relationship outside what the book predicted, it's not *just* an obligation of the Plan]

They really want you to remember those words huh

OoH SymBoLisM

Anathema saying ''my boyfriend did the tricky part'' is akin to Azira taking ownership of his feelings for Crowley, recognizing what he's capable of. The ''tricky part'' was breaking a nuclear reactor by being cursed -- it's Crowley's faults that ultimately make him heroic, and Azira has learned to love them.

In their final scene, Newt encourages Anathema to burn the second book without reading it, telling her she doesn't have to be a ''descendent'' [remember Heaven is a ''family''] all her life, and she does-- reflecting Crowley's role in Azira's loss of faith / newfound agency, and the entirely new thing he has become, which is neither an angel or a demon.

At the peak of Shadwell's delusions, when he's virtually psychotic, he's worried about Newt being seduced by the forces of darkness, reflecting Azira's anxiety over Crowley and misplaced desire to protect him from himself.

Madame Tracy tells him he can't help Newt in the state he's in -- as Azira has to break down his own Heavenly self-image and moral grandiosity before he can help Crowley. She suggests that he has a rest, and when he wakes up, he's still belligerent, but it's pointed that the first thing he does is call Madame Tracy a _good woman_ , and attempt to defend her honour, in opposition to everything he's said before. This is while Azira is possessing Tracy, and himself changing for the better.

Shadwell turns from denigrating and rejecting Madame Tracy to acknowledging her as a ''good woman'', and standing in front of her to protect her on the airfield, which she adores. Azira hasn't done a good job of protecting Crowley so far-- he's generally the one that needs to be rescued-- but he _was_ prepared to murder Adam for him. It would have been the wrong decision, but it says a lot about how far he will go to protect Crowley when he's in a position to do so.

In their own final scene, Madame Tracy approaches Shadwell and she's no longer wearing her garish costume, he's no longer wearing the military coat. He has a tartan shirt and a vest that's reminiscent of Aziraphale's waistcoat.

Neither are afraid of being vulnerable anymore, presenting themselves as they are. When he calls her Jezebel again, it's _soft,_ like a pet name. They talk about retiring from the Witchfinder Army and sex work, respectively, over dinner.

She prods him to make a committment, and he's kind of too hopeless to really get what she's saying, but agrees it would be nice.

This is reflective of the final scene at the Ritz, where Azira and Crowley can see each other for who they are, and are no longer obligate enemies, and Azira can wholly accept his intuition and his vulnerabilities that he had to stamp down in Heaven. Now they can go and live in a cottage in the South Downs and tend marigolds together like Crowley always wanted.

He probably doesn't get *why* a demon would be so devoted to him, but he doesn't have to try and understand it anymore. He's okay with how it is.

The white piano mirrors one of the very first kindnesses Aziraphale showed Crowley, on the wall of the Garden. [credit to [this post](https://holisticfansstuff.tumblr.com/post/185871488102/x) for pointing it out]

_And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square... ♬_

## Conclusion

I suppose I should say something articulate and insightful here that justifies my media degree but. It's just gay. It's so gay. If you managed to read this far, you are measurably gayer. The end.


End file.
